Howard Dean on Foreign Policy

Former VT Governor; Former Democratic Candidate for President

Day 1: Visit international allies to undo damage

Q: After the inauguration, what would be your first action as president?

A: To make an international visit to our allies to shore up our badly damaged relationships.

Source: Associated Press policy Q&A, "DAY 1"
Jan 25, 2004

Bush has squandered foreign goodwill

When George W. Bush was running for president in 2000, he pledged a foreign policy based on humility. Instead, our foreign policy has ended up based on humiliation. After September 11, 2001, most of the world had such goodwill toward our country.
It is amazing to me how that goodwill has been completely squandered in just two years. Increasing numbers of people in Europe, Asia, and in our own hemisphere cite America not as a pillar of freedom and democracy, but as a threat to peace.

Source: Winning Back America, by Howard Dean, p.162
Dec 3, 2003

Repair relations with world by ending Bush arrogance

Q: How do you feel you can repair relations between the US and Canada?

I have a long-standing relationship with Canada. Repairing our relationship with Canada requires the same solution that repairing our relationships
with the rest of the world requires, and that is the removal of a president whose arrogance and contemptuousness for others overrides the respect that is necessary between parties to conduct international relations.

Source: Concord Monitor / WashingtonPost.com on-line Q&A
Nov 6, 2003

Let the UN handle the Iraq situation

Q: Can the UN handle the Iraq situation?

A: I don't think we have any choice. I supported the first Gulf War. I supported the Afghanistan war. Our people had been killed. We have a right to defend ourselves.
But now we can't just cut and run. We need to bring troops from Arabic-speaking nations in so this is an international reconstruction and not an American occupation. And I think, yes, the UN can do that.

Source: CNN "Rock The Vote" Democratic Debate
Nov 5, 2003

I have as much foreign policy experience as Bush had

Q: You have commanded nothing more than the Vermont National Guard. You did not serve in the military. How would you be able to exert any command over a post-war Pentagon?

DEAN: I have as much foreign-policy experience as Bush did when
he got into office. And Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The important part is to have very good people talking to me about foreign policy, and to use judgment and patience.

Intertwine into alliances, to create international stability

International alliances and institutions are the backbone of a stable international order. The more that our destinies are intertwined, the greater the shared sense of purpose,
the more we must work together successfully to address the difficult challenges ahead. We must fully integrate Russia and China into the international community as our partners.

Integrate China as our international community partner

One priority should be strengthening our bonds with other countries, especially our historical allies in a world growing ever more interdependent. Conducting foreign policy by posse may be expedient, but it is short-sighted and far less stable
than a world order built on enduring relationships and viable international institutions.

I would lead this country back to a strong commitment to international alliances and institutions that are the backbone of a stable international order.
In an increasingly complex and dangerous world, the more that our destinies are intertwined, the greater the shared sense of purpose, the more likely it is that we will work together successfully to address the difficult challenges ahead.

And we must do this not only with our traditional friends and allies in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa, but with such critical powers as Russia and China, both of whom must be fully integrated into the international community as our partners.

Source: Speech to Council on Foreign Relations
Jun 25, 2003

Embrace nation-building over isolationism

I disagree with the fundamental assumptions underlying Bush's foreign policy, which has been at its core isolationist and seeks to avoid nation building.

The greatest advance in American foreign policy in the last century was the Marshall Plan.
Europe's 1,000-year history of nearly continuous war is instead today dominated by an economic union, which would not have been possible without the investment of billions of American taxpayers dollars. We have been paid back many times over in trade
dollars, and more importantly, in American lives which have not been lost to yet another European war.

Our long range foreign policy ought to embrace nation building, not run from it. The most successful countries are those with democracies bolstered
by a strong middle class that embraces the full political and economic participation of women. We need a solid game plan to [build] those countries that are not democratic, that treat women as second class citizens and that lack a strong middle class.